Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate, "King Mo" Lawal vs. Roger Gracie official for Strikeforce in July
Posted on June 5, 2011, 11:53 PM by Joey Santosus
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson continued to come together today with two high-profile match-ups now official. Women's Welterweight Champion Marloes Coenen puts her title on the line against Miesha Tate and former Light Heavyweight champ Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal takes on Roger Gracie.
Strikeforce officials confirmed the bouts on Saturday.
Coenen (19-4) will look to make her second successful title defense since defeating Sarah Kaufman to capture the belt back in October. Though Tate was originally set to challenge for the strap in March, she was replaced by Liz Carmouche when an injury forced her out of the match-up. The relatively inexperienced Carmouche put on a valiant performance, but was submitted by Coenen late in the fourth-round.
Tate (11-2) comes into the bout riding a five-five win streak, which includes three consecutive Strikeforce victories. "Takedown" cemented her place as number-one contender by winning a one night tournament back in August, picking up unanimous decisions over both Hitomi Akano and Maiju Kujala.
Lawal (7-1), meanwhile, looks to rebound after being dethroned by Rafael Cavalcante at last year's Strikeforce: Houston. Prior to the defeat, which was the first of his career, "King Mo" had won seven straight, including a decision victory over Gegard Mousasi to claim the belt.
Gracie (4-0) remains unbeaten in his short professional career, most recently submitting the tough South African Trevor Prangley in January. The win was his second in a row with the promotion, having previously choked out Kevin Randleman at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery.
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson is set to take place July 30th from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. A superfight between "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson will headline the stacked card, while the Light Heavyweight clash between Lawal and Gracie is expected to serve as co-main event.
Photo: Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal at a workout session at the Legends gym on March 17, 2010 in Hollywood, California. Francis Specker
Comments
Miesha Tate is HAWT.
I usually don't pick fighters based on looks but hot damn! I'm picking Miesha.
Oh, and Marloes, please don't hit Tate in the face.
dat ass cannot be beat
Don't worry, Coenen will submit Miesha. She won't need to punch her too much.
ROGER GRACIE via SUB. EASY.
King Mo via decision or KO. Easy. His wrestling is far better than Gracie's and he brings far more athleticism, power, speed and unpredicatbility in the stand up.
King Mo's wrestling allows him to dictate where this fight takes place, and he has no reason to enter Gracie's world on the ground. He has the advantage standing, and he will keep the fight there and win.
im gonna go with Roger on this one. He looked fantastic in his last fight against Prangley.
I am pumped about the Mo/Gracie Fight most of all.
This SHOULD be a good example of high level Jiu Jitsu vs. high level wrestling.
This card is stacked....most SF main cards r usually stacked n always deliver so I can't wait for this one.....gotta go with King Mo n Coenen
Mo and gracie matchup looks interesting, but have to give the edge to gracie
classic wrestler vs jiut jitsu match up, i think King Mo might be able to eek out the decision
2 amazing fights added to an already stacked card. Im actually gonna go with gracie in his fight with mo. With that level of BJJ he is a threat to any1 plus mo is mainly a wrestler....
King Mo has got this he's too good of a wrestler to get taken down by Roger and if it does go to the ground its because Mo wants it there which i doubt is gonna happen since Mo is the better striker of the two
Man I'm excited about Roger. Not only does he have some of the best BJJ in the world, but his BJJ translated into MMA very well.
He has to get the fight to the ground to use that world class BJJ or else he loses this fight not that Mo is a devastating striker i just think Mo has more power and better head movement than Roger although Roger's standup is improving
Mo via KO.